Chapter 15,Section 4: Star Systems and Galaxies Page 615

Star Systems Most stars are members of groups of two or more stars, called star systems. Binary Star System (2 stars) Three Star System

Types of Galaxies Astronomers classify most galaxies into three main categories: spiral, elliptical, and irregular. Spiral Irregular Elliptical

Structure of the Milky Way Our solar system is located in a spiral galaxy called the Milky Way. From the side, the Milky Way appears to be a narrow disk with a bulge in the middle. The galaxy’s spiral structure is visible only from above or below.

FROM MICRO TO MACRO COSMOS POWERS OF 10 ZOOM FROM MICRO TO MACRO COSMOS .

This is a trip at high speed, jumping distances by a factor of 10. We’ll start with 100 (equivalent to 1 meter), and will increase the size by a factor of 10, or 101 (10 meters), 102 (10x10 = 100 meters, 103 (10x10x10 = 1,000 meters), 104 (10x10x10x10 = 10,000 meters), so on, until we reach the limit of our imagination in the direction of the macro cosmos. Later we’ll return, a little faster, back to the point where we started & continue our trip in the opposite direction reducing distances of travel by factors of 10 into the micro cosmos. We will observe the constancy of the laws of the universe and think about how much the human race still needs to learn...

BON VOYAGE!

100 1 meter Distance to a bunch of leaves in the garden

101 10 meters Starting our trip upwards .... We can see the foliage.

102 100 meters At this distance we can see the limits of the forest and the edifications

103 1 km We will pass from meters to kilometers.. Now it is possible to jump with a parachute ...

104 10 km The city could be observed but we really can’t see the houses

105 100 km At this height, the state of Flórida - USA, is just coming into view ...

106 1,000 km Typical sight from a satellite

107 10,000 km The northern hemisphere of Earth, and part of South America

108 100,000 km The Earth starts looking small...

109 1 Million km The Earth and the Moon’s orbit in white....

1010 10 Million km Part of the Earth’s Orbit in blue

1011 100 Million km Orbits of: Venus and Earth...

1012 1 Billion km Orbits of: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars and Júpiter.

1013 10 Billion km At this height of our trip, we could observe the Solar System and the orbits of the planets

1014 100 Billion km The Solar System starts looking small...

1015 1 Trillion km The Sun now is a small star in the middle of thousands of stars...

1016 1 light-year At one light-year the little Sun star is very small

1017 10 light-years Here we will see nothing in the infinity....

1018 100 light-years “Nothing” Only stars and Nebulae...

1019 1,000 light-years At this distance we are travelling in the Via-Lactea (Milky Way), our galaxy.

1020 10,000 light-years We continue our travel inside the Via-Lactea (Milky Way)

1021 100,000 light-years We begin reaching the periphery of the Via-Lactea (Milky Way)

1022 1 Million light-years At this tremendous distance we can see the entire Via-Lactea (Milky Way) & other galáxies as well ...

1023 - 10 Million light-years From this distance, all the galaxies look small with immense empty spaces in between. The same laws are ruling all bodies of the Universe. We could continue traveling upwards with our imagination, but now let’s return home quickly

1022

1021

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1016

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109

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104 Questions that come to mind ... Who are we? Where are we going? Where did we come from?

103 Or... What do we represent in the Universe?

102 In this trip “upwards” we went to the power of 23 of 10

101 Now we are going to dig inside of matter in a reverse (inverse) trip...

100 We arrive at our starting point. We could touch it with our hands ...

10-1 10 Centímeters Getting closer at 10 cm ...We can delineate the leaves.

10-2 1 Centímeter At this distance it is possible to observe the structure of the leaf.

10-3 1 Millímeter The cellular structures begin to show...

10-4 100 microns The cells can be delineated. You can see the union between them.

10-5 10 microns Starting our trip inside the cell ...

10-6 1 micron The nucleus of the cell is visible.

10-7 100 Nanometers Again we changed the measuring unit to adapt to the miniscule size. You can see the chromosomes.

10-8 10 Nanometers In this micro universe the DNA chain is visible.

10-9 1 Nanometer ...the chromosóme blocks can be observed.

10-10 1 Angstrom It appears like clouds of electrons... These are carbon átoms that formed our world. You should notice the resemblance of the micro cosmos with the macro cosmos ...

10-11 10 Picometers In this miniature world we could observe the electrons orbiting the atoms.

10-12 1 Picometer An immense empty space between the nucleus and the electron orbits...

10-13 100 Femtometers At this incredible and minuscule size we could observe the nucleus of the atom.

10-14 10 Femtometers Now we could observe the nucleus of the carbon atom

10-15 1 Femtometer Here we are in the field of the scientific imagination, face to face with a proton.

10-16 100 Attómeters Examine the ‘quark’ partícules There is nowhere further to go... We are at the limits of current scientific knowledge . This is the limit of matter...

And now ... Are you the center of the universe? Are you the special creature of the Creatión? What is behind the limits? Are there any limits? Note that going downwards we could only go to the power of minus 16ª of 10 to reach the (known?) limits of matter... But upwards we went to the power of 23ª of 10 and stopped... But we could have continued our trip subject only to the limits to our imagination!!!! ... then? ... Who says that we are alone in the universe?

Hope you enjoyed the trip. The End!

End of Section: Star Systems and Galaxies